LNO renewal proposal under development

The LTER Network Office (LNO) provides a variety of services to the LTER Network under a six-year Cooperative Agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF). These services include supporting and facilitating LTER meetings, including the All Scientists Meetings, helping sites implement metadata standards, providing leadership in the development of the LTER Network Information System, acquiring and maintaining an archive of remotely-sensed images for LTER sites, and disseminating information about LTER activities and achievements. A new Cooperative Agreement is scheduled to begin in March, 2009, and the staff of the LNO is busy preparing a proposal that will be submitted to NSF next spring.

The proposal will focus on four topic areas-support for synthesis, cyberinfrastructure, core services, and development/outreach-and will be grounded in the new strategic research, education, cyberinfrastructure, and governance plans for the Network. As part of the proposal development process, the LNO will review and revise its own strategic plan to be better aligned with the new Network plans. Discussions with the LTER Executive Board and other LTER standing committees have identified a series of LNO activities to advance Network goals. The proposal will link these activities with outcomes and projected impacts on the LTER Network. A draft of the proposal will be circulated to site principal investigators and the LTER National Advisory Board for comments and reviewed by the Executive Board.

Many of the present activities and services of the LNO will continue under the new Cooperative Agreement, but additions and modifications of some activities will be necessary to address the new Network goals, opportunities for partnerships with emerging networks, new technological approaches, and changing site needs. What won't change is the primary goal of the LNO, which is to facilitate and support efforts to achieve the goals of the LTER Network.

Questions or comments on the LNO and the new Cooperative Agreement should be addressed to me at rwaide@lternet.edu.